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Monday, 11 January 2016

Judging by the irritatingly incessant
whining of the WOB, despite the fact that we’re currently looking
down on every other club in the country, there are far too many
Gooners, who simply can’t comprehend that the vast majority
of footie fans spend their entire lifetimes waiting, mostly in vain,
for their teams to win something.

With our own comparatively trifling,
nine-year sojourn in the silverware-starved wilderness interrupted by
the euphoria of successive, memorable May day outings to
Wembley, this adds a certain spice to the recommencement of a journey
that many seem to feel is now destined to always culminate in
another end of season trophy party. But then it’s been so long
since we last lost an FA Cup encounter that I guess it’s
inevitable that we’ve become somewhat blasé. Folk seem to forget
that every cup run requires a large slice of good fortune.

In spite of the incremental efforts to
sabotage the highlight of the sporting calendar that is the 3rd round
of the FA Cup, myself I’ve always adored this unique convergence
of clubs from contrasting tiers of the football
cake. The increased allocation of tickets for away fans will
often result in a stonking atmosphere. Yet there’s simply
no accounting for the incompetence involved in Sunderland returning
around half of their tickets, too late, apparently for them to go
back on sale to us Gooners.

The FA badly need to address the fact
that there were far too many empty seats all over the shop this
weekend. A good start would be for clubs to acquiesce to
the “Twenty’s Plenty” campaign. Instead of Black Cats’ bums
on seats prior to Saturday’s KO, there was a large banner draped
across the empty section promoting this effort to limit costs for
the travelling hard core to 20 quid.

Moreover, the rotation that results from
prioritising Premiership ambitions sends the sort of signal that
inevitably has a detrimental impact upon the intensity and focus
of those involved. As evidenced by Laurent's uncharacteristic lapse in concentration,
in gifting our guests the opening goal!

In the absence of the customary 3rd round
fervour on the pitch, combined with the muted atmosphere off
it, sadly Saturday’s encounter was a perfect example of
the creeping diminution of the traditional cup “blood and thunder”.
Still with BFS railing about their midweek relegation “nine-pointer”
v Swansea, if Sunderland were gentle as a result, I guess we should
be grateful that Cattermole & co. didn’t leave their customary
black & blue marks on the Gunners. Seemingly everyone in
the stadium, bar ref Atkinson, was convinced Giroud had
been brought down in the box during the second half, but it
speaks volumes that this match transpired without a single nasty
tackle of note!

Watmore Jeff?

Iwobi hasn’t exactly pulled up any trees
on the odd occasion that I’ve seen him play as a central striker
for our U21s, but playing behind Giroud in Saturday’s rare run-out,
he was about the only Arsenal player who looked really up for it
in the first-half, as he was at least trying to make something happen.

Unlike Man Utd, we might not have taken a
tedious 70mins to produce a shot on goal, but with five players
on the park with alleged attacking instincts, it
was particularly disappointing that we failed to put the prosaic
Black Cats under the cosh.

After Sunderland took the lead some
suggested that they’d rather see us lose than risk blowing vital
Premiership points against Chelsea, as a result of a
midweek replay. Mercifully we didn’t have to wait long for
Joel Campbell’s retort and while this performance might’ve been
far from the Gunners at our scintillating best, there was cause for
optimism that this goal and the two subsequent peaches were
all straight out of the “football made easy” book, as extremely
pleasing on the eye, slick, passing moves.

Our cup might’ve runneth over and out if
Sunderland hadn’t fluffed two great chances following the break,
but after Ramsey came on and snaffled our second, there seemed
little fight left in the relegation threatened, Wearside mongrels. I
was hoping that the Ox would grab his recent opportunity of some
proper game-time, but he and Gibbs both failed to impress and
with pace being his greatest threat, it’s really hard to fathom
why Walcott appears so reluctant to run in behind the opposition’s
back-line.

Joel or Hector MOTM?

I was also disappointed that
Reine-Adelaide only enjoyed a cameo late run-out, when the game was
already won. This elegant teenage midfielder covers the ground
with the sort of effortless grace that’s reminiscent of
the panther-like Henry on the prowl and we’re all impatiently
waiting to see if he can truly cut the top flight mustard. The
consensus is that Bellerin was MotM, but I think Campbell shaded
it. It must be unsettling knowing he’ll be sidelined as soon as
Alexis returns, but after so many seasons in the shadows, it would be
foolish to let Joel fly the coop just right now.

With Klopp struggling to muster a team
from his decimated squad, Wednesday’s trip to Anfield is looking
less daunting. If the unknown Elneny is the only guaranteed
acquisition, with crucial matches coming thick and fast surely Jeff
will be let off the leash before long? Obviously a home draw in the
4th round would be most expedient, but if not, please could we at least be
presented with an unusual awayday outing?